Nighthowler
by Death By Segway Scooter
Summary: [Mirrorverse] A quick peek into the future...all the way into the year 2005.


**Legal Schtick:** I own no characters here. Hasbro/Takara own Transformers themselves. Deceptipup is the one that runs Transformers: Mirrorverse (a multi-author universe in which the roles of the good and evil characters are reversed. In other words, the Autobots are evil, and the Decepticons are the oppressed). MV Galvatron, however, is my fancharacter.

**NOTE:** This is the first fic to take place during Mirrorverse: Season 3. 

**Nighthowler**

It was late afternoon on a day in autumn. The sun was just beginning to hang behind the hills in the distance. It peered down over a remote Canadian farming town, which only consisted of about fifty houses. Not much was happening down there now. Maybe a person stepped out of their house once in awhile, but that was about all there was in terms of action. In reality, not much _ever_ happened there. It was a remote farm town, after all. Excitement doesn't normally happen in small farm towns.

Or does it?

The sun peered down over a wide expanse of crop fields, now browned and barren. Harvest had already past, and now all that was left in these fields were a few husks and weeds. Before, those fields had helped feed other cities. Now, they were only used to feed only the townsfolk. The fields gave them enough crops to feed the whole town for a year or two, but it's not like many of the villagers complained about that.

Finally, the sun peered over the forest right by the town. The sea of trees was a much more interesting sight than the farming village. It was a great many shades of gold, orange, and red, with a few islands of green from pine trees. But what was even more interesting was a little something else that had lodged itself into the forest only an hour ago.

It was a large creature and quite alien, so to speak, compared to the flora and fauna. But all it had done upon its arrival was sit down and add slightly more color to a random clearing in the forest. It had not moved since. The strange being was so still that squirrels chased each other around its curvaceous surfaces. A couple rabbits sniffed it curiously, but never felt threatened enough to run away. A fawn nibbled grass right by its bulk, as if it was never there at all. And it had been so quiet, that no one in the town had an inkling of its presence.

Not now, anyway. But somebody was bound to find out.

"Why are we doing this again?" a tall young man in a dark leather jacket, a resident of the farming town, asked his younger brother as the both of them wandered down a dirt forest path.

"Because we haven't done it in a long time," the shorter dark-haired boy replied as he turned on a heel and walked backwards to face the other.

"Gee, I wonder why... Oh that's right! Because of the giant demon robots...which are _still_ out there!" the older brother snapped sarcastically.

"Ah, you worry too much!" the younger brother said. "Yeah, so they still exist. But haven't you noticed a how couple months ago those monsters suddenly shut up?" He then turned back around and folded his arms behind his head as he continued walking.

"But that's just it!" the elder sibling cried. "Whenever an invading alien race suddenly halts their activity, it always means they're up to something! Besides, didn't you hear the news that a couple of 'em were seen out here?"

"Ah, those were just _rumors._ Can't believe everything you hear, bro," the younger sibling assured him. He then gave his brother a sharp look. "Like stuff you hear in _movies_ about what marauding aliens do when they're suddenly quiet..."

"Agh...," the older brother slapped his forehead. "Fine! Sam...you win. But if we get eaten or stomped on or anything, it's _your_ fault!" He gave his face a quick rub in frustration. "Let's just make this fast and get it over with. Mom's probably wondering where we are anyway."

"Y'know, bro, you _really_ need to learn how to relax," Sam replied. "And by the way...I doubt those giant robots are man-eaters. Probably wouldn't like the feel of something soft in their mouths. Heck, some of them don't even _have_ months!"

"This IS relaxed!" the older brother shot back. "...And how do you know for sure...?"

Sam let out a cross between a frustrated grunt and a sigh as the two continued down the path. Coming up in front of the boys was a slight bend in the dirt path. Right next to this bend was a large, gnarled oak that had a single, ancient strand of rope dangling from a branch that hovered over the path. Sam quickly dashed over to the warped-looking tree and grabbed the old, frayed rope.

"Oh my God, Carl! Remember this?" he asked, fingering the strand. "We like, had this old tire swing here! We made it ourselves too, I think. That thing was sooo cool..."

"Yeah, until that one guy's dad tried to swing on it and broke the thing," Carl, the elder, added. "The guy swung so high up, the rope snapped on him, and he went flyin'. Was hilarious. Certainly wished I had a camcorder then..."

"Y'know, maybe we should try rebuilding it," Sam suggested. "I think I can find some heavier rope, and larger tires..."

"Sure, but there's _one_ little problem with that..." Carl sighed. "I hate to bust your bubble here, but those..." He grabbed at a descriptive word, but failed. "_THINGS_ are still out there. It'd kinda suck if they got us while we were swingin' away on our new swing wouldnnit?"

"You're really crampin' my style, bro," Sam grumbled as he unconsciously batted the old rope around. "Are them robots _all_ you think about?"

"Well it _does_ keep me alive..."

"Well, _I_ don't let them waste my time, and _I'm_ perfectly okay! Look bro, if you're too scared, why don't you just go back home?"

"And leave you out here alone? No way! Mom would kill me!"

"Then stop complaining already and let's just go!"

Carl cursed under his breath before they started down the path again. He walked just behind his little brother, who he swore mumbled something about "wondering who the real big brother was sometimes." He pretended not to hear it and went along, his head bent and his eyes staring at the ground. Sure...he'd like to relax and forget all about those bloodthirsty demonic machines. He'd like to enjoy a walk, for once. He'd like to relax for once. But he just couldn't. He couldn't get those beasts off his mind. What if those rumors were true, and there was one lurking right around here now? What if one was hiding _in this forest_! Were they signing their own death warrant by taking this stroll?

"Hey bro-"

"YAAAAAAAAAHHHH!" Carl jumped a mile. He then stood there, breathing heavily before saying, "Don't scare me like that!"

"Geez...sor-ree!" Sam rolled his eyes. "Anyway bro, I just remembered something. I heard something about those robot monsters on the news a long time ago..."

"What was it?" Carl attention was certainly caught. He just hoped Sam wasn't going to crack some dumb joke.

"Weeell...you're probably not gonna believe it, but..." Sam paused. "I think the report said that not all them robots are evil."

"You're right...I don't believe it," Carl replied. "Unless of course, we've just had bad luck and all them ones we've seen so far were evil ones... You remember anything else?"

"Umm...I think it had something to do with what they were wearing...," Sam scratched his chin, trying to remember. "Something that was painted on them. Symbols or tattoos, I think. I don't remember what the symbols looked like, but I do remember the colors. The evil ones had a red one, but the nice ones had blue or purple ones. I think there were a couple that had no symbols at all, and I think they were okay too..."

"Huh..." Carlos stuck his hands in his pockets. "That is hard to believe, but I sure wish it was true. It'd be nice to think that some of those monster machines weren't hell-bent on killing us all. Maybe even on our side for once..." He smiled very slightly. Carl hated to admit it, but that story actually made him relax.

The path had become narrower now. Up ahead, there was a place where the trees stopped on the left. This was actually a small cliff's edge that looked over a large clearing in the forest.

"Hey, look!" Sam cried. "We're coming up to that place where you can see the picnic spots!" He quickly raced up to the grassy edge.

Carl slightly smiled again as he slowly followed up from behind. _I guess it's nice to be so happy-go-lucky, huh?_ he thought.

But that's when he noticed something was wrong. Instead of jumping up and down, pointing, and saying things like, "Hey bro! Remember all the picnics we used to have down there?" Sam was simply standing there, staring down at some spot that Carl couldn't see from this angle. And it wasn't a happy, nostalgic stare either. His mouth was hanging open and he looked like he had just been slapped. In short, Sam did not seem to like what he was seeing, whatever it was.

"Sam? Sam, what's wrong?" Carl hurried over to where his brother was standing and gaping, but Sam instantly halted and shushed him.

"C-Carl? Look...down there...," Sam whispered weakly. He pointed a trembling finger at the sight below.

But Carl had already seen it before Sam had opened his mouth. He would have had to be blind to miss THAT. For sitting in the clearing down below...

...Was the biggest, most scariest-looking robot he had ever seen. He had to put one had on his mouth to keep from screaming, and one hand on a tree to keep from falling down. It's a shame he didn't have a third arm, for he could've used the extra hand to put on his chest to keep his heart from pounding its way right out of it.

The giant robot was sitting down, its armor-plated back against the old trees, its arms folded across its barrel chest, and its eyes closed. It looked like it was asleep.

But could robots actually sleep?

"Th-those...those rumors were true...!" Carl whispered breathlessly. "There wuh...there was giant robots around here! C-c'mon Sam...we gotta get outta here before that _THING_ wakes up!" He grabbed his brother by the arm and tried to pull him away.

However, Sam resisted and stayed put. "Wait, bro!" he whispered loudly. "Look!" He pointed at the giant robot's chest area.

Carlos looked, but saw nothing. Of course, he was so panicked right now, it was difficult for him to make much of an effort. "What exactly am I looking for?" he asked.

"It's just like I had heard on the news! That thing's got a symbol...a purple one!" Sam answered.

It was pretty hard to see it. Not only was the mechanoid's chest armor an odd shade of bluish-purple anyway, but its folded arms were right in the way. But upon a closer inspection, Carlos saw it-or part of it at least. A dark blue symbol was painted right on its upper-chest, just like Sam's news report had predicted.

"So...you think what the news said is true?" Sam asked quietly. "You think this guy will leave us alone?"

Even if the news report had been right, it was almost impossible to believe that this thing could've been friendly. Every single one of this beast's features just screamed out, "KILL! KILL! KILL!" It was covered in ominously dark, heavy armor. Upon its head were three short, sharp, dark-purple horn-like projections that almost looked like butcher knives sticking out of its forehead. There was also a long, foreboding looking spike that resembled a giant _fang_ was jutting out of its back. Most frightening of all was the weapon attached to its right arm...a gigantic bright-orange cigar-shaped cannon. If that thing woke up right now, turned out to be _very unfriendly_ and decided to fire that thing at them, Carl reckoned it would not only take out them, but the whole forest them.

But then there was its face. Something about it just seemed...well, Carl really couldn't describe it. The face was chalk white, all except for its chin, which was pitch black and slightly stuck out. Its facial features were very hard and well pronounced, like was old (wait, could a _robot_ age?) and it had seen a lot of hard times. But there was almost a gentleness and peacefulness in its face that he could tell was there, but couldn't really pin down.

And THEN there was what the machine was doing...or rather, _not_ doing. It was just sitting there, sleeping perhaps, not bothering anything. There were _squirrels_ climbing on it, for crying out loud! If this creature truly was as evil as the ones on the news, wouldn't it be tearing through the forest in a berserk rage and abusing that giant cannon of its? Falling asleep in the middle of a forest didn't seem like something a supposed "evil invading alien" would do...

But despite this, Carl decided not to take any chances. "Do you honestly wanna test that theory!" he whispered loudly to Sam. "We gotta go...NOW."

Sam had hardly any time to react before Carl grabbed him by the arm and started dragging him away. Fortunately, Sam didn't offer much resistance. As the brothers hurried back down the path, Carl took one last glance over his shoulder-you know, to make sure that thing hadn't awakened and was coming after them. It hadn't moved an inch, but he could have sworn that just for a split second, it had an eye open. Almost as if it was watching them as they had their backs turned, but shut its eyes again when it saw Carl look back. Carl was sure hoping that was just his imagination...

...And speaking of which, did he just hear some loud pounding in the distance? Sounded like thunder almost. Or maybe..._heavy footsteps_? No, it couldn't be...the giant robot they just saw wasn't chasing after them, and still wasn't. So maybe it was thunder then? Funny...it wasn't cloudy.

Then, a disturbing thought crawled into Carl's consciousness. Maybe it _was_ footsteps. Maybe _another_ mechanical monster had just entered the forest. And maybe this one wasn't friendly...

Carl's heart was racing not only from the running, but from his thoughts. Suddenly, he felt Sam's hand pull away from his. He stopped short.

Sam had merely stopped to catch his breath. "Dang, bro! ...You got plenty of...stamina,...you know that...?" the younger brother sad between gasps. "You...should try out...for track, or sumthin'...!"

Carl didn't answer and quickly looked around him. They were back by the bend in the road, and had just passed the tree that the old rope dangled from. No monstrous robots in sight. However, he could still hear the loud pounding noises...

"What _is_ that?" he thought out loud.

"What, the booming noise?" Sam replied, not so breathless this time. "No idea, bro. I'd say it's thunder, but it wasn't supposed'ta rain today..."

"Does it sound like footsteps to you?"

"Footsteps?"

Suddenly, the two heard voices off in the distance. They sounded like they were coming from back down the path, possibly back in that clearing. One was a high tenor voice, like that of an older teenager or a young man. The other was deep and very gravelly, like that of a middle-aged man who had done all-day chain-smoking a good portion of his years. Both of them were very loud and had metal undertones; obviously both of the talkers had to be giant robots. Either that, or some people were speaking through a couple fans _and_ megaphones off in the forest somewhere, but that just sounded ridiculous.

It confirmed Carl's fear: there _had_ been a second robot in the forest with them (he sure wished it was the guys with fans and megaphones now!).

The brothers just stood there for the time being, their necks craned up and their eyes fixed at the darkened, dusky sky above passage they had just came from. They couldn't see either one of the gargantuan speakers, but they continued staring anyway, frozen. Frozen with both fear and curiosity over the conversation.

"...Don't you get it?" the younger voice said, with audible pompousness. "If I bring you back to HQ, I'll not only get all kindsa huge promotions, an' probably lotsa creds...but I'll be considered a hero! Y'know what everybody back at base calls ya? The "Undefeatable"! Yeah, that's right. So theeeennn...I'd be defeatin' the "undefeatable"! I'll go down in history, man!"

"Riiiight...," the gruff, older voice rasped. "Tell me, kid...how much did they teach you at your military academy?" It was apparent in its tone of voice that the elder robot thought the younger one was completely out of its mind. Or whatever it was that robots thought with.

"Quite a bit. Why?"

"Well, I don't mean to sound like I'm bragging, but...don't you think your buddies call me 'undefeatable' for a reason?"

"Are you calling me stupid!"

"Stupid? Heavens no! I said nothing of the sort. I'm just questioning your logic, that's all."

"I learned plenty! But I learned even _more_ from what people who've encountered you've said! They say you don't like fightin' with your fists. They say ya just sit there and _talk_ 'em to death instead! Ya push their buttons 'till the freak out 'n' run away. But I got news fer ya, pal! I don't got no buttons to push, an' words don't scare _me_!"

It was then that the brothers heard gunshots ring out. Flocks of birds flew out of the trees as the loud rattling of some alien machine gun filled the air. On instinct, Carl quickly shouted, "Geddown!" pushed Sam to the ground, ducked, and covered with one hand covering his brother's head, one hand covering his own.

"Wait a sec, bro! They're not shooting at us!" Sam tried to shout over the din.

Carl slowly pulled himself together and looked up. Sam was right, and in truth, he kind of figured the giant robots wouldn't be shooting at them anyway. They probably didn't even know the brothers were in the forest with them. Still, he was too terrified to get up. His heart beat like a drum, and he was sweating buckets.

It was then that the gunfire suddenly stopped. The abrupt silence was followed by a loud, long "creak," like something was bending metal.

"You know, you really shouldn't be playing with these things," the gravelly voice said, almost sounding amused. "You might put somebody's eye out."

"They stopped shooting...," he half mumbled to himself, half said to Sam. He then snapped out of his little daze. "Doesn't matter. That just means that we REALLY need to get the Hell outta here!"

He stood up, took Sam's arm, and pulled him into the trees. "If we stay off the path, there's a chance they may not see us," he explained.

At that moment, the younger-sounding digital voice yelled out, "It doesn't matter if ya broke my gun! I can _still_ take ya down!" It then let out an angry roar...followed by a loud, dull "clank" that echoed throughout the forest. The young voice then said in a much quieter tone, "Owww...slaggit..."

"What was that all about, I wonder?" Sam whispered.

"No time to find out. Let's GO!" Carlos replied, pulling on his younger brother's arm.

The two hadn't even gone a yard when they heard the younger machine-voice roar again...except this time it was coming closer...

...And closer...

...And closer...?

Uh oh.

_CRASH._

Something huge had just forcefully landed in the trees just across the path from the two brothers. They jumped a mile. Sam's knees buckled and he wound up falling flat on his rear. Carl had to put both his hands over his own mouth to keep from screaming like a little girl.

They looked, but it's not like they needed to. They already figured what was going to be there, and sure enough, they were right. Lying on its abdomen amongst the trees that had been knocked over from breaking its fall...was a giant robot. Another one. This one was a lot smaller than the one the brothers had encountered in the clearing. It was also much boxier-looking and colored in loud, eye irritating shades of fluorescent cyan and yellow that clashed awfully amongst themselves and the robot's gray-white face. It also had overly large round eyes; however, they were covered by metal "eyelids" for the time being. That was actually a good thing, for it meant it could not see them.

For a moment, the boys stood there, pretty much in shock over what just happened. But as the wounded robot slowly started to pick itself up off the ground, they immediately dove behind the nearest trees. Carl slowly peeked around the oak that was his hiding place and watched this new robot. Its eyes, which were now slightly open, were blue. A bright, fluorescent blue. A bright, fluorescent blue that also clashed with its equally loud, gaudily painted body. He caught a glimpse of its right hand, and found that it was all dented up. It even let out small showers of sparks here and there. It almost appeared as if the robot had smashed it on something...

But the thing that really caught Carl's attention was some kind of red spot on the robot's chest. He wanted to take a closer look at it, but he suddenly heard the sound of heavy footsteps heading his way. The other robot must be coming on over. He quickly jumped back behind his tree.

_Now_ what were they going to do? Carl was too scared to run. If Sam and he tried to make a break for it, they'd probably get spotted, and then...!

He peered over at his brother who was hiding behind the maple next to his oak. He had his head poked around his tree, watching the robots. Sam didn't look extremely scared; in fact, he looked rather fascinated.

_Always brave at the WRONG TIMES, aren'tcha Sam?_ Carl scoffed to himself.

"You know, when you lunge at somebody, you really ought to take aim first," the deep, gravel voice said suddenly.

Carl didn't want to, and he kept on telling himself that curiosity killed the cat, and that he was much better off not knowing what was going on. But he just couldn't help himself. He slowly craned his neck around the tree trunk and took a peek. This time, he saw the brightly colored younger mech standing semi-erect, keeping one of its huge eyes partially closed, and rubbing that smashed-up hand. It was scowling furiously at the larger and presumably much-older robot, which stood about a few yards away. The purple, elder mech had a slight smirk on its gray-white face. Its eyes were a piercing, menacing red. Even if Sam was right about this larger mech being "friendly," it sure as Hell didn't look like it was. Far from it, to say the least.

The eyesore of a small robot tried to stand up straight. "Oh shut up!" it spat.

"Look kid, I don't wanna fight you," the larger robot started. "I've got better things to do with my time-"

"Ohhhh...ya don't wanna fight me, huh?" the smaller machine interrupted. "That's funny...I'd really like to fight YOU!"

"You know what? You're not proving yourself to anyone," the larger robot seemed to be able to emphasize its point without actually raising its voice. It did sound a bit exasperated, however. "You're just making a big aft out of yourself by trying to go on some impossible ego trip. Just go home and get out of here before you get hurt!"

"Who's gonna make me, huh...!" the younger machine snarled viciously. "_Who's gonna make me!_" It suddenly lunged at the purple robot.

The elder, however, never moved from its spot. Carl thought he heard it make a noise like a frustrated sigh. But then, just as the younger, yellow mech was practically right on top of it, the giant purple robot thrust its knee into the smaller robot's abdomen in one swift motion. The young mech let out a long, pained, high-pitched gasp before stumbling backwards, ultimately losing its balance, falling down, landing hard on its back, and sprawling out all over the forest path. It looked like it had passed out, or turned itself off, whatever robots do when they go unconscious.

Carl stole a glance at the larger robot. It was examining the fallen, smaller machine while looking a bit worried. Then, a moment later, it said, "You'll live. I didn't hit you that hard." It then turned around and mumbled aloud, "I'm getting out of here." before plodding off slowly through the woods. Its gait was a little strange...almost as if it was taking it steps very carefully. Perhaps it was trying to avoid stepping on something? Hmm.

"Hey bro!" Sam whispered suddenly. "...I think we're okay now. The big one's leavin', and I think the little one's knocked out..."

The two slowly stepped out from their hiding places, and observed the fallen robot for a moment. Indeed...it looked like it had been knocked out cold. Carl could see a huge, gaping dent in the yellow mech's abdomen where the larger robot had kneed it. His younger sibling tapped him on the arm. "Look!" he whispered loudly while pointing at the mechanoid's chest area. "It...it's that red symbol I was talkin' about!"

Carlos glanced at the area his brother was gesturing at. Sure enough, that red spot he had seen earlier on the robot's chest turned out to be some weird glyph of some sort. It almost resembled a face when he looked at it from a certain angle.

"So, uh...according to the news, the evil robots have red on them...?" Carlos whispered nervously.

"Yeah, I think so...," Sam replied quietly. "That's what the one guy said..." He paused. "Bro, how long ya think robots stay knocked out for?"

"No idea Sam. No idea."

Suddenly, the robot twitched. There was a brief whirring noise from within the huge machine. And then silence.

"Hey bro?"

"Yeah Sam?"

"I think we should go now."

"For once, I agree with ya, Sam."

The two took off like rockets through the trees and the underbrush, desperately wanting to put plenty of space between the awakening robot and themselves. But once again, luck was not on their side, and they hadn't gotten far when Carl heard something he _really_ didn't want to hear:

"Wha...? Humans...? Here?"

"Shiiit! I think he saw uusssss...!" Carl cried through his teeth.

"OhmyGawdohmyGawdohmyGawd!" Sam chanted breathlessly.

Carl could hear the humming of machinery and the grinding of gears behind them. The robot had definitely recovered. Even worse..._it had seen them!_

The yellow mech took a step forward. Its heavy footfall caused shockwaves through the immediate area that caused the already jumpy Carl to lose his balance. He stumbled forward a bit before completely losing his footing and falling on his face. A second later, Sam barreled on past him.

Carl quickly scrambled to his feet. Ahead of him, his brother was still running but had slowed down a bit. He was also looking back over his shoulder while calling out, "Bro! Are you okay!"

No sooner had Sam finished speaking his question when a giant, yellow metal hand slipped through the trees, its palm blocking the unwary child's path.

"SAM! TURN AROUND!" Carl screamed.

Too late.

"EEEEEYYYAAAAAAHHH!" Sam shrieked as the steely yellow fingers closed around him and lifted him high into the air, right into the bloodthirsty gaze of a mechanical demon.

"Well, weeelll...whaddo we got _here?_" the giant robot chuckled coldly, a malicious ear-to-ear grin plastered on its white, flexible faceplate. "A squshie on a nature walk? Cute..."

"L...Lemme go!" Sam tried to squirm free, but it seemed like it was in vain. He suddenly let out a small cry that made Carl flinch. The bastard machine must have squeezed him!

"Now, now!" The robot taunted. "You wouldn't want me to accidentally _drop_ you or sumthin', now would you?"

In a towering rage, Carl suddenly forgot all his fear, grabbed the nearest bunch of sharp-looking, quasi-heavy rocks and charged through the trees at the evil mechanoid. "LET 'IM GO, YOU SICK BASTARD!" he roared as threw the rocks at the beast.

The rocks were barely able to make a scratch on the huge creature, but they sure got its attention. "What? _Another_ one!" it said. "Ah, one's all I need. You go squish now!"

It raised its huge foot and began to bring it down forcefully...right on Carl's head! He screamed as he tried to get out of the way. His dumb luck allowed him to escape death-by-foot, but barely by an inch. However, that's all his luck protected him from. A moment later, a tremendous shockwave that felt like an 8-pointer earthquake sent the poor young man flying. He went sailing right through the air before landing face-first into a young tree. Several branches broke off from the impact and rained down on poor Carl's head.

The robot must have thought it had squashed Carl, for it simply turned away and plodded back through the forest.

"Now if I heard right, the 'Cons are crazy about you guys," he heard it speak, presumably to the captive Sam. "They'll do _anythin'_ to make sure you guys ain't hurt. That means you, my friend, are gonna help me climb the corporate ladder! Now lesse...where'd he go? Ohhh! There he is, I see 'im! Hah! He hasn't even got outta the forest yet! The idiot's probably afraid he's gonna burn something if he tries to take off in the forest...! This'll be like stealin' oil from a drone!"

Carl slowly brushed off the branches and picked himself up. "This just isn't my day is it?" he muttered to himself. "Dammit...somebody up there must hate me! Whatever the case, I can't let that thing run off with Sam! But...what'm I gonna do? I can't fight a giant robot!"

He may have been completely clueless as to how to actually rescue his brother, but nevertheless, Carl semi-valiantly ran through the ever-darkening dusky forest, after the gargantuan kidnapper. It wasn't too hard to tell where it had snuck off to...it left a well-defined trail of fallen or smashed trees and giant footprints.

As he hurried through the woods, he could hear another conversation starting up. Looks like he was getting closer.

"Hey Galvy!" the younger voice called out from somewhere up ahead.

"You again!" the hoarse voice groaned in audiable irritation. "What do you want now!"

"Lookie what _I've_ got!" the young mech said in a taunting singsong voice.

An awkward pause. Then suddenly, the elder robot let out an infuriated, "_If you harm a hair on that human, I'll make you live to regret it!_" The enraged words echoed throughout the woods, and even made Carl lose his balance for the umpteenth time.

"Oh yeah? What're ya gonna do about it?" the younger robot shot back. "You gonna shoot me with that cannon a'yours? Oh that's riiight...if you shoot me now, you'll kill him too! Not to mention take out this whole forest filled with your precious organic creatures!"

A long pause.

By now, Carl had reached the end of the messy trail. And it ended right at the same clearing. Here, he found the two giant robots staring each other down. The yellow one had a huge slimy grin on its face, and was happily showing off its prisoner to the other in its good hand. The other looked just plain angry, to make a colossal understatement. It snarled ferociously at the smaller robot. It looked as though it really wanted, to put it in vernacular, open a can of whup-ass on the gaudy yellow mech, but was powerless to do anything because of the fragile hostage. Of course, Carl couldn't blame it...after all, he felt nearly the same way.

"I'll make ya deal, Galvatron...," the small 'bot said. "You come with me, an' I won't kill the squishie. Refuse, and I'll pull him a apart like a cheap drone right in front of your face!"

The larger mech just stood there in silence for a moment, still sneering at the oily yellow robot. It almost looked like it was trying to figure a way out of that situation, but couldn't. After a few moments, the angry sneer melted off its face, and its ruby eyes shut. It muttered quietly, "...I don't have much a choice here, do I...?"

"No, ya sure don't!" the youth replied, cackling an irritating cackle.

Carl had about all he could stand right here. Here, right in front of him, was his younger brother being held a hostage as a giant demonic mechanoid blackmailed another. And from what he observed from most of these abominations, he figured this one was lying like a dog and had no intention of letting Sam go after it turned the bigger one in to its buddies. In fact it was probably just going to squash Sam for the Hell of it...happens all the time on TV! He had to do something...NOW.

But what? His problem was a giant mechanical Hellspawn...what _could_ he do?

He looked around, looking for answers. First off, he just had come through the path that the nasty, young robot had smashed into being; thusly it had its back to him (or most of it at least, it was actually standing at an angle. But that was good enough). He was also standing near the edge of the small, steep hillside that overlooked the clearing on two sides. On this side, the slope was much less steeper than the edge by the forest path. The slope also had tons of large rocks jutting out from its surface. Very large rocks. Boulders, even. Sure, Carl had already thrown rocks at it before, and nothing happened...but he never threw rocks as big as these ones!

Working as fast as he could, he grabbed the closest, but biggest one he could find. Normally, he'd never be able to pick up a rock that size. It was about three times the size of his head! But you know what happens when people are all hyped up on adrenaline. From there, he wildly barreled down the hill while hauling the heavy boulder, his face red with anger and furious breaths escaping his nose. Once he reached the bottom, he hurled the boulder at the metal monster and hoped for the best.

...After that, everything happened at once.

"Take THIS you sonovabitch!"

_CLANG._

"GAH! What the Pit...!"

"Bro! HEEELLLLP!"

"I...I'm comin' Sam-OOOF!"

"You...you slaggin' squishie...you dented my helmet! That's it, _this time you stay squished_!"

"DON'T YOU DARE TOUCH THEM!"

_KAPOW!_

* * *

"Take THIS you sonovabitch!" was Carl's little outburst. He had been a bit caught up in the moment.

He also got a lucky shot. The "_CLANG_" was the boulder beaning the yellow 'bot in the back of its head, and the robot had thusly replied with a, "GAH! What the Pit...!" During this small sudden shock, the mechanoid had accidentally lost its grip on Sam. The young boy screamed "Bro! HEEELLLLLP!" as he plummeted to the ground from fifteen or so feet in the air.

Carl, still pumped on adrenaline, had rushed over with his arms out in front of him, calling out, "I...I'm comin' Sam-OOOF!" The last part was from the successful catch of his falling brother. Or semi-successful, anyway. Carl hadn't really caught Sam, more like broke his fall. Sam had landed in his arms, all right, but the force knocked Carl to the ground.

Enraged, the young robot briefly looked around. It had taken only a second or two before it found-and recognized-Carl lying there on the ground. Furious, it had lifted its huge foot and hovered it right over the two brothers. It then clenched its fists, ground its teeth (or whatever it had in its mouth) and stammered, "You...you slaggin' squishie...you dented my helmet! That's it, _this time you stay squished_!"

Just as the giant foot started to come down on them, the "DON'T YOU DARE TOUCH THEM!" rang out, and was immediately followed by the loud explosion.

It all had happened in mere seconds, but now it felt like time had stopped. Nothing moved, and all was silent.

Carl slowly lifted his head. The giant foot now hovered dangerously about a foot or so immediately above their heads, threatening to crush them. But fortunately for them, the owner of the foot had removed it from its precarious position back to the ground next to them for some reason.

As soon as the threat of death by crushing metal foot disappeared, Carl saw the reason. The owner of that foot looked like it had just been in a train wreck. A train wreck in which the train had hauled tons dynamite and it all went off to be more precise. There was a huge, gaping hole that tunneled sideways all the way through its torso and through both of its upper arms. The arms clung onto the rest of the body by threads, and a rainbow of colorful mech liquids bled out the ruined body. The young, seriously wounded mech's face was filled with awe and its large eyes bulged at something off to its left.

Carl followed its shocked gaze over to the larger robot. It was just standing there, slightly leaning forward. The furious sneer had returned to its face, but its eyes were squinting and its left "eyelid" was twitching, making the sneer look more pained than angry. Its right arm was raised. The barrel of its fierce-looking orange arm cannon was smoking...

The larger robot had just shot the smaller one.

"...Y...You shot m-me?" the younger mech stammered, turning itself to look at the other mech and struggling to stay on its feet. "Just like that...you shot me...?"

The purple mech said nothing. It just lowered its weapon, stood up straight, and continued glaring at its opponent. The sneer gave way to a simple frown.

"Holy Pur...Pri...mus...I thought...," the yellow beast continued, its fading voice filled with slurs, static, and chokes, "I thought youze 'Cons...were all choke all supposed ta be sweet 'n'...squawk...n-nice 'n' stuff. Buh-But you j-juz went 'n'...'n' shot me juz like tha- choke! -at..." It paused. "...S...slag. ...Guess I had it all wrong.. ...I think I now guh-get...why m' buddiezz call you undee...undefffeat...un...unnn..."

It never finished its word. First, both its arms fell off and dropped to the ground, gushing fluids like rivers. Shortly thereafter, the body trembled before it fell onto its back. Then, as if by magic, its loud, tacky, bright colors actually dimmed and faded to a dark gray. Carl wasn't exactly sure how the spontaneous repaint happened, but he pretty much figured it meant that the robot was dead.

Or sent back to Hell, whichever one.

Carl and Sam picked themselves off the ground. They stared awhile at the small robot's smoking remains, completely stunned and still trying to digest everything that had happened in the last five seconds. As he stood there, Carl noticed that his arms, back, and ankles were hurting. Probably from when Sam fell on him.

He didn't get to digest much, for moments later the standing mech sighed loudly, interrupting his thoughts. "What's that thing Cyclonus says? 'Well shizzle my nizzle'?" it rasped. "I believe that's actually an obscene Terran slang phrase, but oh well." A pause. "Are you two alright?"

Carl just stood there for a moment. "Are you two alight?" it said. Nobody else was around. Nobody else but the two brothers. So was this thing talking to_them_! Was _it_, one of those giant robots that had plagued the world for before he was even born, actually concerned about how they were doing? It sounded impossible.

He slowly turned around to see if that thing was indeed talking to him. His gaze met its blood red glass eyes that glowed softly against its shady, spiky figure in the late twilight. If it hadn't been for the little bit of light from the full moon, which was now hanging right above them, its form would have been totally black. It also wasn't standing anymore; now it was crouched down on one knee as it looked them over. What, was it trying to be polite now by lowering itself down to their height? Whatever it had it mind, that thing was still damn scary looking.

He tried to answer its question, but he just couldn't get a sound out. Fortunately, Sam stepped in for him.

"We're okay," the younger sibling answered.

For once, Carl was actually thanking Sam's boldness.

"Good...," the giant robot almost purred. It briefly nodded its bladed head. "Just leave this whole mess to me. You two better go back home now. It's late. And it may not safe here anymore." It gestured to the fallen one. "His allies may contact him soon, and start wondering why their scout isn't responding. I'll try and take his body somewhere far away as soon as I can, to throw them off course. Hopefully, they won't start hanging around your town..."

"R-right!" It took Carl what seemed like an eternity to get that word out, but he was finally able to muster it. There were actually a ton of other things he longed to say, but alas, he did not have the courage. The only other thing he managed to add was, "Thanks! You heard the guy Sam, we gotta go!"

As usual, Sam resisted. "Wait a sec, bro! I wanna ask 'im something!"

"Wuh, what...?" Carl responded rather dumbly.

Sam stepped right on over to the spinuous giant kneeling before them. Now what the elder brother really wanted to do at this point was tackle him down and drag him away before anymore disasters got a chance happened. But alas, his lack of nerve once again prevented him from doing anything except for standing there and watching as his younger sibling walked up to a monstrous, fire-eyed shadow of a mechanical giant as if it were just some random guy on the street.

"Hey,...umm...giant robot, sir?" Sam started. His pauses genuinely sounded like he just didn't know what to call the creature, and not because he was scared of it. "Can I ask ya somethin'?"

"Hrrrm...?" the machine purred an affirmative. Its eyes seemed to light up at Sam's question, but not in a threatening manner. In fact, it almost seemed...pleased?

"Did you...shoot that guy to protect us or somethin'?"

"Yes...yes I did."

"All right! I knew it!" he took that opportunity to shoot a sideways glance and point quickly at Carlos as if to say, "Toldja!" Then, he continued interrogating the mech with, "...Well, um...how come?"

The robot made some deep rumbling noise that didn't sound too far off from a chuckle. "I'm a Decepticon. Protecting others is what I do best," it answered.

"YES! I KNEW there were nice robots!" Sam cheered again.

Perhaps it was from the last answer. Or perhaps it was just a delayed reaction. Whatever it was, Carl finally found his nerve, marched over to his inquisitive brother, and grabbed him by the arm.

"Okay Sam, that's enough...!" he said, still nervous and trying not to shout. "You got to ask him some questions, and your answers... Now let's get home before our parents call the cops on us, or something!"

"WHOA!" Sam cried as the older brother began to drag him away. He still managed to yell a, "See ya, mister giant robot, sir!" over his shoulder. "And thanks!"

The giant machine let out something that sounded like a chuckle. "Good bye," it replied.

The two scurried off through the clearing and climbed up the less-steep hill. Just as they got into the trees, Sam suddenly stopped. Yes. _Again._

"Sam! Whaddya think you're doin'! Let's _go_!" Carl cried.

"Wait a sec...," Sam said. He walked up to the cliff side, and peeked around a large oak. He then pointed at the giant figure still remaining in the clearing. "Look..."

The giant mech, its figure now a dark, spiny silhouette in the darkness, was now on its knees. It was muttering something to itself, but it was so quiet, Carl had to strain to hear it...

"...Why...?" it was saying. Carl could hear it say this several times. Its voice croaked more than normal as it spoke. It almost sounded...sad!

"...Why...? Why...was I given all this power...? ...Why is it necessary...that I have enough to kill someone with one touch...? ...Why...? What purpose does it serve? What good is it if I accidentally destroy my own world while trying to save it...? ...Why...?" It paused. "...He was so young...must only be a rookie... He probably spotted me in the air on my way here to rest, and followed me. I _knew_ I was flying too low! ...But I...I couldn't let him kill those humans...I-I panicked when I saw him raise his foot...but still I just went and...I didn't mean to... I didn't mean to do it... _I didn't mean to do it!_"

Carl had absolutely no idea what the robot was talking about. And then it did something he understood even less.

"_ORRRRRROOOOOOOOOOOOOO!_"

He had to cover his ears, it was so loud. Its anguished calls sounded like a strange combination of wolf howls and whale song being blended and digitized by a synthesizer.

"What's it doing!" Carl tried to yell over all the noise. "Why's it making that god-awful noise!"

he robot continued howling.

"It's...crying," Sam mumbled.

"Crying! Sounds more like howling!"

"It's crying because it killed that other robot."

"What! Seriously! But that _thing_ tried to kill us and turn _it_ in to its buddies! Why's it crying over something like _that_! If I was him, I'd be dancin' right now!"

"It doesn't matter to him, I guess."

"Say...why do you know all this, anyway?"

"I heard it talking to itself. It was complaining about all this power it has. I don't think it wants to hurt anyone, but it can't help it. It's too strong for its own good." Sam paused. "Bro, you think we oughtta go down there and cheer it up...?"

"No," Carl answered. "I think we ought to leave it alone for now...it's not like we can do anything for it, anyway. Let's just do what we've been trying to do for awhile and leave."

They stumbled around a bit, but soon found the forest path. They hurried along in silence, and fortunately this time they weren't stopped by anyone or anything. But playing in the background all the way out were the robot's agonized howls. Pretty soon, its howls were joined by much more natural sounding, higher pitched howls. Coyotes...or wolves. They must think that the robot's howls are coming from another one of their pack.

Carl frowned. He couldn't help but feel responsible. He felt that if they had never entered the forest in the first place, the bigger robot would have never had to shoot the little one. After all, it did shoot trying to protect them...

Yes, _protect_ them. He could scarcely believe it. After all he had seen on the news (and the stories of the fights going on outside of town by witnesses), he actually ran into one that wasn't Hell-bent on killing them. Sam was right after all; there _were_ two kinds of robot. The ones he had heard about all these years and that obnoxious younger robot were probably the vicious, aggressive kind. That purple one, despite its intimidating looks, probably belonged to the passive, more peaceful group. That would explain why it was still upset...

Oh great. Now he was feeling guilty for calling the robots "demons" all these years.

Once they made it out of the woods, the howls suddenly faded and died down.

"Wonder what happened?" Sam mumbled.

"Maybe he left, or something," Carl muttered a response.

By now, it was total nightfall. They trudged all the way home under dim streetlights. Carl limped a little, his left ankle still sore from all the running and other abuse he took earlier. And if their luck hadn't already been awful so far, their reception at home wasn't too friendly either.

"Where in the _Hell_ have you boys been!" their mother barked as soon as they got in the door. "I thought you said you were just going for a walk in the woods!"

"We were," Sam started, "But then we ran into-"

"We ran into some trouble and got lost!" Carl quickly cut his brother off.

The younger brother scowled at the older one, whilst the older one returned the dirty look and mouthed, "Don't tell her _that_!"

"Oh? Well try not to get lost next time!" their mother replied. "I've heard that there's been a couple of them monster robots runnin' around outside of town. I don't want you boys gettin' hurt or nuthin'."

_NOW you tell us, Ma!_ Carlos thought.

"And then I heard somethin' weird a couple minutes ago," their mother continued. "There was this coyote...howlin' its head off like there's no tomorrow! Was as loud as all get out...must've been one damn big coyote."

_You can say that again,_ Carl mentally commented.

"Hope it's not some kinda mutant," the mother commented.

"Hey, maybe it was one of those giant robots!" Sam piped up. Carl buried his face in his hands.

"Giant mutant coyote robots? Eh, maybe. Anything's possible now," their mother said.

"Yeah, exactly!"

Carl just groaned.

"...But maybe it was just a normal coyote, yeah," Sam added immediately.

The older brother let out a small relieved sigh.

"...Well, supper's almost ready. You boys better wash up," the mother said. "And speaking of which, you two are an absolute _mess_! What'd you do, roll in the dirt, or somethin'? And you Carl..." she picked something out of his hair. "...Why is there leaves in your hair!"

Sam snickered. "He fell out of a tree!"

Carl glared.

"Huh. Well, go wash up now."

Their mother walked into the next room, whilst they stepped down the hallway to the bathroom.

"I sure hope that robot's okay...," Sam whispered. "...It took everything pretty hard."

"Yeah, I know," Carl whispered back.

"Y'know, it wasn't really its fault. It just wanted to protect us. That other robot woulda killed us if it hadn't shot 'im!"

"...Yeah..."

As Carl stepped up to the sink, he caught a glimpse of the night sky out the bathroom window. Outside was a bright full moon. And he thought that just for an instant he heard one more deep, sad howl...

He thought it was the robot at first, but upon listening further, it didn't sound so digitized. It was probably just a coyote.

Or was it...?


End file.
